I’m so normal that I definitely didn’t print out and painstakingly cut and tape this soul contract from the Bill website together or anything ahahahahahah
(I also definitely didn’t sign it with my government name and hang it on my wall, that would be crazyyyyyyy)
Rewatching Gravity Falls as an adult is such an experience, seeing all the symbolism and metaphors that never really caught your attention as a kid. One of the most apparent samples being Bipper. While I do believe Bipper and Bill’s possession in general is a metaphor for CSA (intentional or not), there’s only show much that can be presented in a family friendly Disney show and I believe the episode Sock Opera does it quite well.
First let’s start off with an analysis of the scene where the possession actually happens. Bill asks Dipper make a deal with him: all he needs is a puppet then he’ll help him as the laptop is about to delete everything. In a heat of desperation + sleep deprivation, Dipper agrees. I mean, it sounds relatively simple, it’s just one puppet right? But, I wasn’t. Instead it was a trick to take over Dipper’s body to destroy the laptop + the journal. Reminder this is something Dipper didn’t agreed to, the only thing he contested to was Bill using a puppet. He had no idea that Bill would take his body like that.
Now as Bipper, Bill takes pleasure in hurting himself as his in a human body as he finds the pain to be hilarious. (slapping himself in the face, throwing himself down the stairs, slamming his arm into the drawers)
All this is presented in the body of Dipper, a young child, someone who is still developing. That kind of physical damage can leave a huge an impact on the individual. Which judging from how Dipper was when he got us body back, very much did.
In The Last Mabelcorn, it is shown how affected Dipper is by the whole possession (Mabel outright saying he’s been paranoid and one of his thoughts being “Eenie meenie mynie you”).
Also, Dipper attempting to erase Ford’s mind thinking that he was possessed by Bill after seeing Ford’s thoughts muttering the words “Trust no one” and Ford tries to convince him otherwise because of his own experience with being possessed left such a impact on himself that his own Grunkle being possessed at that moment provoked him to stop it at any means necessary (that’s my theory anyway)
Keep in mind, Bill quite literally ripped Dipper’s soul out of his body. Dipper, at that moment had absolutely no control over what Bill might do to it. Of course, he’d been freaked over the thought of that happening to someone in his family. Especially since he’s seen it with his own eyes what Bill is capable of.
Not to mention Bill refers to Dipper “[his] old puppet” in Weirdmageddon Part 1, presumably dehumanizing him because he sees his victim as nothing more than a tool. Something that he can exploit, something that gives him power, control.
Again, who knows if any of this was intentional, probably none of it is but, it is still a fantastic metaphor either way.
